The Month in Drum & Bass

Given that it's summer and six minutes of paradiddling micro-breaks aren't condusive to every mood (like doing 80 on I-95), I've spent the last few months getting to grips with the, well, "pop" end of modern drum & bass. This stuff has few defenders outside the scene, and I totally understand why on one level. Records by Twisted Individual, Distorted Minds, and Wickaman (among others) are so fast and ugly (often featuring just one really nasty synth riff that gallumphs along like a gabba calliope) that they exacerbate the same kind of "noise annoys" tendencies that piss off people over 18 in many genres. (Cf. crunk, nu-metal.) They are also, sometimes, a lot of fun.

But despite the fact that most of this stuff is trash (and leaving aside arguments about whether or not that's a bad thing), some of it is quite stunningly produced and often has a bit more behind it than its reputation (to say nothing of the name "clownstep") would suggest. DJ Fresh and Pendulum (often in collaboration) have built a stunning run of singles over the last two years. Many of which feature elements found in my beloved "leftfield" producers, like weird breakdowns and tight percussion editing and strange bass frequencies, but always delivered with a big, fat, cheesy rave hook to keep it pop. Like Marc Acardipane in gabba or Lil Jon in rap, Fresh and Pendulum boys are creating incredibly nuanced, often (dare I say it?) avant-garde music for a market that would settle for much less. This stuff is so well produced it often feels 4D.

I realize that I am sounding dangerously close to the guy extolling the virtues of Timbaland and the Neptunes over every other rap producer. So let me say that I can't really recommend DJ Fresh's recent Bass Invaderz [Breakbeat Kaos] mix CD. It's mixed so blindingly, (and eventually) enervatingly fast that it smoothes out everything that makes the individual tracks interesting into sixty minutes of concussive bass hits. Still, you really do need to check out singles like "Submarines" (basically kozmik techno at 180 bpm), "Floodlight" (almost breakcore-esque in its dynamics), "Another Planet" (with its cheeky "suddenly there was a change" sample setting up its BOING-BOING-BOING bassline), "Colossus" (ditto), and "Dead Man Walking" (reaching for the heavens before plunging you into a bouncy castle of hell).

So, sad to say, I am still sticking to the margins. Or at least the hazy areas where mainstream bleeds into leftfield. It came out earlier this year, but I would be remiss if I didn't mention Hive's "Krush" [Metalheadz]. From those opening oooh, skycraping synths with orgasmic male "ohhhh"s to the squealing trumpet spiraling upwards to the Organized Konfusion sample to the grinding noise breakdown and deftly (but not overly) chopped roll-out, this is worthy of anything in the "classic" jungle era, but beefed up on the post-Bad Company workout plan. The drums really slam, but they also shake, rattle, and stop on a dime. And when those same nape-licking synths come in at the bridge, it's impossible to resist. It's, for whatever it's worth, my fave d&b single of the year so far. I seriously don't think anyone can fuck with the Violence crew right now.

In possibly the first instance of an Indian classical musician meeting chopped up breakbeats that isn't a total insult to both sides (I am looking at you Talvin Singh), the always reliable Dev Paradox turns out a stunning remix of Shobha Gurtu's "Dil Leke Muhije Badnaam Kiva" [First Contact]. It translates to "the cry of the heartbroken girl" and there's definitely a bit of the pathos to Gurtu's classically trained vocals meeting Dev's trademark dusty, raw, and slightly muted break cascades. More troubling/confusing is news of Paradox working with Herbie Hancock (hmmm) and Bill Laswell (nooooo) on a track featuring Iggy Pop (omg wtf lol).

On Offshore this month, ASC feat. Intex Systems (it was very big of himself to feature himself on his own record) delivers the third and final "Drum Track" this time subtitled "Heatsink." Less frantic than "Drum Track 2" (a highlight of the Troubled Waters mix CD), ASC (or is it Intex Systems?), it is no less confoundingly put together, with multiple breaks, basslines, and bleeps (the three b's) assembling and disassembling themselves before forming like Voltron in the final stretch. On the flip, "Fresh," Intex Systems (or is it ASC?) chops up MC samples over a real freak nasty bassline.

And out flailing in the deep end like someone who didn't wait 30 minutes after snacking, Miraculous' "Can't Hold Back" somehow steps the whole "really bizonkers drum editing" thing up a whole three or four notches, like having your head smacked around by two giant ping pong paddles made of lead. This is only the fifth release on DJ Bailey's Intasound label and the third out-the-box classic. On a Bailey session at Metalheadz late last year, the dub received no less than three rewinds. After forty minutes of new and classic two-steppers like "Shadowboxing" and "To Shape the Future", the audience sounded like they had been uncaged, legs finally able to move in any direction they wanted to, the track offering dozens of options. Freedom, but at what cost?